Pasadena Refining Systems outage triggers shelter-in-place

Y.C. Orozco

Published 2:47 pm, Monday, July 25, 2016

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A power failure and some CO2 emissions at the Pasadena Refining Systems Inc. in Pasadena caused a temporary shutdown of operations to the Washburn Tunnel, the Houston Ship Channel and a shelter-in-place for Galena Park on Monday. less

A power failure and some CO2 emissions at the Pasadena Refining Systems Inc. in Pasadena caused a temporary shutdown of operations to the Washburn Tunnel, the Houston Ship Channel and a shelter-in-place for ... more

Pasadena Refining Systems outage triggers shelter-in-place

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A power failure and some CO2 emissions at the Pasadena Refining Systems Inc. in Pasadena caused a temporary shutdown of operations to the Washburn Tunnel, the Houston Ship Channel and a shelter-in-place for Galena Park on Monday.

The power outage, which occurred at approximately 3:30 p.m., was caused by Monday afternoon’s extreme weather, according to Pasadena Fire Marshal David Brannon.

“Due to the weather we had this afternoon, they (PRSI) had a partial power outage so they were operating at about half-power,” Brannon said.

The plant had to flare off some product, including sulfur dioxide, and with the wind direction moving the heavy black smoke toward Galena Park authorities issued a temporary precautionary shelf-in-place and a partial shutdown of the Washburn Tunnel and the Houston Ship Channel.

“They (PSRI) were responsible, made notification like they were supposed to and took care of business,” Brannon said.

No injuries were reported and the shelter-in-place had been lifted by 6 p.m.

According to its website, the 112,229 barrel per day plant located at 1100 Red Bluff is of petroleum products, including petrochemical feedstock's with a crude oil.